Mac Gifford knows people judge you by the company you keep.

So in order for Syracuse to be considered a top program, it first must compete with other top programs.

This motivated Gifford, Syracuse’s tennis head coach, to schedule a matchup against No. 44 Yale for his Orangewomen’s last home meet Saturday at the Drumlins Tennis Center.

‘It’s important in the long run,’ Gifford said. ‘It’s a goal of ours to play in the NCAA tournament and be ranked in the top 50 or so.’

Too bad running with the in-crowd isn’t always as fun as it’s cracked up to be.

Syracuse failed to win any matches against the Ivy League powerhouse, losing, 7-0, to the Bulldogs (11-1).

No Syracuse player forced a third set in singles. Only junior Daniela Kaluskova — in her match against Elizabeth Kaufman, the 87th singles player in the country — and senior Shervin Saedinia — against Margaret Purcell — were able to win six total games in their matches. The closest the Orangewomen came to winning a match came in doubles play, when Saedinia and senior Masha Kabanova lost 9-7 to Kaufman and Karlyn Martin.

Though SU (8-7) lost, Gifford knew heading into the match that Syracuse faced stiff competition.

‘(Ivy League teams) are strong,’ Gifford said. ‘You’ve got to schedule Ivy League schools to stay in the east because the travel budget prohibits us from playing the teams out west.’

In order to get national recognition and a possible berth into the NCAA tournament, SU was forced to face nationally-ranked teams like Yale and then-No. 36 Missouri.

What makes getting ranked difficult for teams like Syracuse is recruiting enough talent to get you there. The highest-ranked teams are located at the warm-weather campuses of Southern California and Florida. Recruiting in the Northeast is tough because of the weather, and Ivy League schools looking to sign the same players can offer the benefits of a top education.

While becoming a premier program is a goal of Gifford’s, he realizes that his team must first establish itself as a top program in the Big East.

‘I always like to schedule someone good before we head into the Big East,’ Gifford said. ‘Practice gets a little bit better and more focused.’

Freshman Wei-Ming Leong agrees.

‘Winning your match is always the focus, and yes, every single match is important,’ Leong said Thursday. ‘We’re going to play a St. John’s match next week which we see as a very important match.’

Winning the Yale match would have been a happy farewell for the seniors, who played their last meet at Drumlins. A win also would have given the Orangewomen their ninth of the season, which would tie last year’s win total. But for Saedinia, who still has two more regular season matches left in her career, the loss isn’t too disheartening.

‘It’s my last home match, and it probably means more,” Saedinia said Thursday. “But it’s the same as every match. It would be exciting to get that ninth win of the year. But I know somewhere down the line, we will eventually get it. And we might get the 10th.’

Published on April 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm